Post by Chilehead on Apr 21, 2008 9:38:54 GMT -5
Just about anybody who is a baseball fan knows the story of the 1919 White Sox. The story of how that team threw the 1919 World Series against the Reds was forever immortalized in the book and eventually the movie Eight Men Out, and it caused Shoeless Joe Jackson to spend eternity in a cornfield in Field of Dreams. What we didn't know until now, is that the White Sox may have just been following the lead of their crosstown rivals.
A newly found affidavit from the 1920 Grand Jury hearings has claims that the Cubs may have thrown the 1918 World Series against the Boston Red Sox as well.
The Cubs were 84-45 that year and serious favorites. Cicotte is not alone in suggesting they had been paid off. The lost diary of Charles Comiskey's righthand man, Harry Grabiner, supposedly indicates that the 1918 World Series was fixed. The reporting of baseball columnist Hugh Fullerton -- the man who eventually blew the whistle on baseball's gambling problem -- also suggested that something was afoul in 1918. Fullerton's accounts of those games repeatedly point out bizarre baserunning mistakes and defensive flubs.
The box scores support his descriptions. The Cubs were picked off three times, including twice in the decisive Game 6. That game was lost, 2-1, on a 2-run error by Cubs right fielder Max Flack. Game 4 had been tied, 2-2, in the eighth inning, when Cubs pitcher Shufflin' Phil Douglas gave up a single, followed by a passed ball, followed by an errant throw on a bunt attempt that allowed the winning run to score.
sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/04/20/did-the-1918-cubs-throw-the-world-series/
A newly found affidavit from the 1920 Grand Jury hearings has claims that the Cubs may have thrown the 1918 World Series against the Boston Red Sox as well.
The Cubs were 84-45 that year and serious favorites. Cicotte is not alone in suggesting they had been paid off. The lost diary of Charles Comiskey's righthand man, Harry Grabiner, supposedly indicates that the 1918 World Series was fixed. The reporting of baseball columnist Hugh Fullerton -- the man who eventually blew the whistle on baseball's gambling problem -- also suggested that something was afoul in 1918. Fullerton's accounts of those games repeatedly point out bizarre baserunning mistakes and defensive flubs.
The box scores support his descriptions. The Cubs were picked off three times, including twice in the decisive Game 6. That game was lost, 2-1, on a 2-run error by Cubs right fielder Max Flack. Game 4 had been tied, 2-2, in the eighth inning, when Cubs pitcher Shufflin' Phil Douglas gave up a single, followed by a passed ball, followed by an errant throw on a bunt attempt that allowed the winning run to score.
sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/04/20/did-the-1918-cubs-throw-the-world-series/